CONCLUSION. 463 



For such formidable task it is obviously necessary that, 

 as observed, all concerned should work together, not aim- 

 lessly, but with a clear perception of the goal to be made 

 for, and steadily and perseveringly, under competent 

 leading, the lack of which Mr. Hall makes a special subject 

 of complaint. Lord Selborne, to quote him once more, 

 spoke the right word when at Lincoln he said : " We have 

 no national agricultural policy "—which manifestly implies 

 that, to succeed, we must have one. We have seen, thanks 

 to Mr. Middleton, the advantages of the possession of such 

 policy in the remarkable progress of Agriculture made in 

 Germany. We may see it in the United States, where, 

 under the leadership of the Federal Department of Agricul- 

 ture, Agriculture is making decided strides forward. We 

 see the result of singleness of aim and concordant action 

 among interested parties in Denmark, in Belgium, in the 

 Netherlands. Everywhere there is a studied watching for 

 the indication which, not the wit of man, but the natural 

 development of things gives us, for new opportunities, new 

 methods, new fields for action, and well thought out, per- 

 sistent pursuit of the paths deliberately struck out. There 

 is an " air service " at work to direct the agricultural army 

 to the positions to be attacked. 



Only among ourselves the old Chaos survives, the chaotic 

 character of which appears the more pronounced by the 

 very gleams of Hght that are visible within it. 



A national agricultural policy, however authoritatively 

 led, as a matter of course cannot mean any restriction of 

 private action, any coercion or limitation of private enter- 

 prise. To quote the words of Mr. Herbert C. Hoover, the 

 United States Food Administrator, whose name should by 

 this time be well known in England, on a very similar sub- 

 ject : " The solution of these national difficulties depends 

 entirely upon the co-operation of all those concerned. 

 With our people there can be no force used. There can, 

 however, be intelligent leadership, and there can be a stimu- 

 lation of patriotism to effect ends for the common good." 

 It is distinctly, the efforts of individuals, entered upon in 

 utter freedom, which have everywhere made for and deter- 



